Riding the Metrospiritual Wave (Are you a Metrosexual?)

Beliefnet ^ | Nov 9th, 2005 | Ariana Speyer

[laney]

Gwyneth Paltrow is one. So are Angelina Jolie and Leonardo di Caprio. Chances are your bikram yoga teacher has the major characteristics and so does the guy who makes your fruit smoothie at Jamba Juice. Donna Karan is totally in on it.

The salesperson who helps you find the right Botanical Kinetics moisturizer at Aveda is probably one, along with your eco-tourism guide at Costa Rican surf camp. Richard Gere may be the proto-one and Uma Thurman was pretty much born into it. What is influencing Hollywood stars and Wal-Mart shoppers, fashionistas and Filene’s basement-dwellers alike? It’s called metrospirituality, and chances are you already know or even

Do you go out of your way to buy organic food? Have you thought about the wu wei in your home? Have you tried yoga, belly-dancing, or surfing recently?

Are you attracted to traditional crafts from other cultures or have you started knitting? Do you own a Prius or have you thought about buying a hybrid car? Are you a tea connoisseur or an organic wine- and beer-drinker? Is there a certain aromatherapy scent that brings you comfort, especially in candle form?

If most of your answers are yes, then count yourself among the growing numbers of metrospirituals—the kinder, gentler post-Yuppies who want to treat the earth and native cultures with respect, connect with their inner source and inspiration, test their bodies and expand their minds with ancient physical practices—and do it all with serious style.

Jim Twitchell, a professor of English at the University of Florida and author of many books about consumer culture, including "Adcult USA: The Triumph of Advertising in America" (1995), attributes the demand for luxury goods to a need for salvation or epiphany through consuming.

Throughout history, Twitchell argues, "The primary deliverer of sensations was the church. That’s where you went to have an epiphany. … The sensations of luxury mirror the sensations of epiphany—the ability to give the consumer the sensation that I’ve come to the end of the line, I’m saved, I’m there, I don’t have to wrestle any more." The metrospiritual takes luxury-buying to a new level--reaching outward for connection to the planet and to each other.

According to Sharon Lee of youth-trend forecasting firm Look-Look, "There’s lots of desire to be spiritual and have more meaning than a commercial, purely secular lifestyle provides. And there’s a smorgasbord of product offerings that have gradations of spirituality woven into them." The words you see and hear again and again on the many products that help define and support the metrospiritual lifestyle—like Fresh’s Crème Ancienne which is made by hand at a monastery in the Czech Republic--are "calm," "enrich," "renew," "inspire," "experience," "connect," "heal," "ancient" and "conscious," for starters. is a metrospiritual Metrospirituality is the mainstreaming of Taoist, Buddhist (thanks to Richard Gere and Uma’s dad, Buddhism scholar and practitioner Robert Thurman), and Hindu values, among others, into an easily digestible, buyable form.

Take Hampton Chutney Company, for instance. This highly popular New York-area food empire makes traditional Indian dosas and uttapams—the kind of thing you might make and eat at an Indian ashram—which is exactly where the owners, Gary and Isabel MacGurn, met in 1990. They now have three thriving outposts at very tony addresses—one in Long Island's Hamptons, one in New York City's Soho, and one on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. At the Soho store, pictures of yogis decorate the walls and devotional Indian chants pour soothingly out of the stereo.

And what are you actually getting if you have the patience to wait on the slowly snaking line? Semi-fast food that is nutritious and delicious (the Number Six, for example, is masala-spiced potatoes with spinach, jack cheese, and tomato), served in an atmosphere heavy on the good yogic vibes. You’re getting food with a stamp of individualism and thought, an exotic staple made American and virtuous in some ineffable way.

Virtue is a key feature of the metrospiritual lifestyle, and those in the fold expect it not only of themselves but also from the companies to which they give their business. Of course, as Sharon Lee points out, "Lots of companies are doing a superficial job and lots of companies are doing a really meaningful job" of being responsible global citizens. At Origins, part of the written mission is to "do whatever we can to protect the earth and its resources." On Aveda's website, the idea is to "strive to set an example for environmental leadership and responsibility."

Metrospiritual companies that practice what they preach believe that popular, profitable products and social responsibility are not mutually exclusive propositions. Whole Foods, an emblematically metrospiritual company, is in the midst of a massive expansion of its $3.9 billion business. Not surprisingly, the Whole Foods web site echoes the now-familiar mantra, "We believe in a virtuous circle entwining the food chain, human beings and Mother Earth: each is reliant upon the others through a beautiful and delicate symbiosis."

[Dashing Dasher]

I see that you and I understand the benefits of thwacking someone upside the head when they say something stupid...

Even if it is online....


;-)

[Salamander]

Actually, it galls me no end that "keyboard gunslingers" mouth off with cracks that they would *never* say if they were face-to-face with the "immediate consequences" of their bravado.

I know and understand full well that anyone *could* conceivably find me via a net search and therefore never say *anything* I wouldn't say in "real life".

People just don't yap off like that around these parts.

Quite a few times in quite a few biker/"good ol' boy" bars, I've seen somebody's mouth write a check their @ss couldn't cash.

[the painful lessons learned by others were not wasted on me]....:))

[A CA Guy]

Either you know God or you don't.
Either you go by the word of God or you don't.

IMO there are tons of folks out there today that are really humanists who consider themselves Christians.
They are often busy trying to remold god in their image.

There's a poll for everything these days.

[Dashing Dasher]

I love it!

And, I totally agree. I'm so amused by the faceless bravado I experience around here.

My favorite is when they call me a liar - that I am making up any/all of my accomplishments.

As if...

LOL!!!

Thanks for the giggle!

Dasher

[pcottraux]

I scored a 9 as well. Feels good I'm not into that hippie celeb-promoted junk.

"You model your values on what's most important to you, not on what celebrities are promoting, and you don't stay up to date with the latest trends."

Yes!!!

[driveserve]

They have the best fresh fish in town too! They also sell organic cigarettes next to the vitamin isle. I think they get away with it because the pack has an Indian...oops, a Native-American on the pack.

[Salamander]

I was gonna reply with something relevant but then I saw this;

Can't quit giggling now.

It just struck me funny and totally derailed my train of thought.

[maybe later I'll come up with something a bit pithier...or at least something coherent]....;D

[Dashing Dasher]

Those were old kitchen magnets that were changed... modernized, if you will.

I have about six or seven of them that just crack me up.

The one you saw is my fave...

There are also:
A CLEAN HOUSE IS A SIGN OF A WASTED LIFE
I HAVEN'T HAD MY COFFEE YET - DON'T MAKE ME KILL YOU
RAN INTO MY EX... PUT IT IN REVERSE AND HIT HIM AGAIN

More to come...

[Peepster]

I scored 6, on a scale of 0 to 36.


I am not at all metrospiritual. I don't live in a city, and my religious life is much more rooted in traditional forms and practices than in lifestyle and consumer choices. I model my values on what's most important to me, not on what celebrities are promoting, and I don't stay up to date with the latest trends. Those celebs can go the way of the dinosaur for all I care.

[Alice au Wonderland]

I'm a 10 - 18.

[tuliptree76]

LOL! Most likely you aren't a metrospiritual then. ;-)

[The SISU kid]

It's probably one of those skinny little 80s "Rick Ocasek" ties, isn't it?...:

OUCH! That really smarts.....

8^(

[Salamander]

Thanks DD.
Those things are so sweet and sadistic.
Hysterical...:))

[Salamander]

Huh?
Why?

Those skinny punker ties were the only ones I ever thought were cool...:)

[Diddle E. Squat]

aka 'pagans'

[Goodgirlinred]

Really? My trainer (at the YMCA now, people, so don't think I am one of these metro-spiritual people because I only had the scent and candle thing on that list) has not let me do that yet. I will have to talk to him some more about it.

[peacebaby]

your trainer hasn't let you do bikram yoga = or just yoga? You should try yoga. It's very good for you. body and mind.

[GottaLuvAkitas1]

Sensitive new age guys song by Christine Lavin= Metrospiritual

Who like to talk about their feelings?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who's into crystals, into healing?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who like to dress like Richard Simmons?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who are hard to tell from women?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who like to cry at weddings?
Who think boxing is upsetting?
Who tapes "Thirty Something" on their VCR,
Who's got "Baby on Board" stickers on their cars, oh,
(Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh)

Whose last names are hypenated?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who like "Three Men and a Baby" a movie I hated?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Whose consciousness is constantly raising?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Whose tax free income is amazing?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who thinks that red meat is disgusting?
Who's into UFO's channeling, and usting?
Who believes us when we say we've got premenstrual syndrome?
Who doesn't know who plays in the Seattle Kingdome?

Who likes music that repetitious?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who likes music that's repetitious?
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who's concerned about your orgasm? (silence)
Well, I guess it's more important that they have 'em.
(Sensitive new age guys.)
Who carries the baby on his back?
Who thinks Shirley MacLaine is on the inside track?
Who always sings on sing-alongs,
Even when they can't stand stupid sing-along songs?

[RadioAstronomer]

I scored an 8 LOL!